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Chris was a co-founder and Managing Partner of Pylon Capital, an entrepreneurial investment firm focused on investing in high growth, technology-enabled service companies. Chris previously managed product development for Nyko Technologies, the leading video game accessory company in North America. Before Nyko, he was a product engineer at Qualcomm, where he worked on the development of mobile communications chips, including the world's first 3G communications chip.

Chris holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Virginia, and an MBA with honors from the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business, where he was a Leadership and Academic Scholar

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In this piece, Chris Lueck, CEO of FastSpring discusses tips and tricks to maximize the holiday shopping experience in an overly saturated and extremely competitive market.

It’s no secret that the holiday season often drives up a significant portion of annual sales for many businesses large and small, from retail to digital goods. In fact, this year Adobe predicts that U.S. online sales will increase by 14.8 percent, totaling to $124.1 billion. With the online market becoming even more saturated, online holiday sales are crucial for many digital businesses around the world.

As we continue to see a convergence between the digital and physical world and the digital commerce landscape becomes more complex, the rules of successful e-commerce strategies are evolving. For example, in order to maintain a competitive edge, businesses selling software and digital goods are realizing that integrating social commerce, personalization, and subscription services are becoming the new norm, and what many consumers now expect.

As we gear up for the holiday season, it is essential for businesses to feel like they truly have a grasp on the global digital economy. To help you out, here are some tips to break through the noise and provide your customers with the best online shopping experience.

1. Lower cart abandonment by building trust.

At the core of every successful online business is a strong foundation that includes a user-friendly interface and shopping cart. According to the Baymard Institute, an average of 69.89 percent of shopping carts are abandoned on the web. Businesses put in so much time, resources, and effort to drive traffic to their website. However, if you aren’t paying attention to cart abandonment, you are losing potential revenue. This is a crucial area to focus on when you are growing your business.

One key way to build trust with customers and decrease the chance of them abandoning your site is to focus on the checkout process. Your online store needs optimized checkout features, active security monitoring, and a mobile-friendly interface so shoppers will not only trust your site but go on to complete purchases all the way through check out.

2. Build optimized shopping experiences with A/B tests.

An optimized, Revenue-generating checkout that serves customers efficiently and elegantly doesn’t just happen overnight. Every business can benefit from running strategic A/B tests on their website. There are many aspects of the shopping experience that you can test, but the key is to start with one piece at a time. This way you can gain clear, actionable insights that create a real impact on your bottom line. You can start simple with testing the number of steps in the checkout process, theCTA buttons, or special discounts and offers. The key is to make sure you are testing a hypothesis and using data to measure the impact.

3. Feature localized shopping experiences for every customer.

Another tip? Think about localization. Our team at FastSpring has found that businesses who offer localized shopping experiences with relevant languages, currencies, and payment methods, see an increase in sales of up to 30 percent. Whether you’re selling to a consumer in New York City or a startup in Latin America, you have to make sure the copy, prices, currencies, and payment methods on your site reflect that geolocation of your site visitor. You can review your web analytics to see the geographical locations of your store’s traffic. This will help determine which markets you should prioritize. When you offer localized experiences to your target audience, your business is ready to expand into new markets and enter a new stage of growth.

4. Don’t forget about global taxes and regulation.

Finally, while design and creative strategy are fundamental, you can’t forget about the numbers! Global tax management and regulatory compliance are always a central piece of the digital e-commerce puzzle, but with the holidays, they become even more important. With the ramped-up sales of the holiday season, businesses need to be sure they remain compliant, especially with all of the buzz around GDPR. Earning a higher sales volume will mean companies need to stay vigilant behind their regulatory practices.

Whether you’re a B2B or B2C business, you can earn the attention of your target audience with an industry leading, end-to-end digital e-commerce platform. With a complete solution, you can turn your shopping cart into a revenue engine with all the e-commerce tools you need for your business to grow. After all, today’s buyers have an endless amount of choice, and the buying experience matters more than ever before.

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